RUINS OF EARTH

Apparently, Hampshire’s Ruins of Earth – yet another band from the Melodic Death Metal flock – have garnered much critical acclaim for their live shows, which have been celebrated as being “intense”, “dynamic”, and – this is always a good one – “explosive”. Okay. That same critical acclaim was directed towards their debut EP ‘Ashes of the Ocean’, and since it was released in October 2010, so it was for this EP, the beguilingly entitled ‘Misguided Lifeforms’? Lemme guess, the ‘Lifeforms’ are us human beings all alone in this unfathomable and perpetually excruciating existence, and the ‘Misguided’ bit refers to the endless mistakes that have been made in the name of progress, God, or whatever grand narrative is in vogue. Yes? And I would wager that somebody somewhere loves it beyond compare and defends their evaluation with a variation of the “they didn’t listen to it properly” line, or the “blinkered attitude to music” cliché. Go on, I’ll wait here while you give the interweb a quick search… Did you find it? Told ya. Right then, it’s my turn. Is it any good? Well, yeah, it is, actually. In fact it’s better than okay. The musicianship – guitar, bass, drums and vocals – are all top notch, stretching across a range of styles that are called upon to support the songs rather than demonstrate individual or collective prowess. The production is lacking a bit but for a self-recorded and self-produced piece it’s still impressive. Sometimes you do get the feeling that you’ve heard it before, but these moments are outweighed by the hooks and monster riffs. And there’s a dark and moody instrumental on the EP that’s overflowing with huge chugging riffs. Blending thrash with death with melodic hardcore, this is – here we go with the tired old adjectives – “brutal”, “intense”, and “relentless”. They’ve still got a way to go but this is a notable piece of work. You can get this free through their Facebook page (I’d avoid the video of them playing in the lounge, though). Give it a listen and then go see ‘em live. Then let me know if their shows are as good as they say…

LABEL:

FORMAT:

Self-released

EP

MISGUIDED LIFEFORMS

Review by Jason Guest

RUNNING TIME:

16:00

RELEASE DATE:

8th August 2011

TRACK LISTING

1) Funeral
2) The Wait
3) Become Inhuman
4) An Unreal Entity

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:

UK

"The musicianship – guitar, bass, drums and vocals – are all top notch, stretching across a range of styles that are called upon to support the songs rather than demonstrate individual or collective prowess."